System and Method of Wireless Communication

ABSTRACT

A method of providing wireless communication service to a mobile phone is provided. The method comprises identifying common mobile phone applications and selectively supported mobile phone applications, installing the common mobile phone applications and the selectively supported mobile phone applications in read only memory of the mobile phone, each of the selectively supported applications associated with a selection switch initially disabled. The method further comprises, when activating the mobile phone, enabling at least one of the selection switches and writing at least one reference to branded content to a random access memory of the mobile phone based on a service plan associated with the mobile phone.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

None.

STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT

Not applicable.

REFERENCE TO A MICROFICHE APPENDIX

Not applicable.

BACKGROUND

Mobile telephones are electronic devices used for mobile voice or datacommunication based on network connectivity provided by base stationsknown as cell towers or sites. Electronic devices may be associated withan electronic serial number (ESN), a stock keeping unit (SKU), and otheridentifying information. Electronic devices may be packaged withoperating manuals, warning documents, charging devices, and otheraccessories in a point-of-sale package suitable for distributing to endusers. A plurality of point-of-sale packages, each containing anelectronic device, may be shipped together to a retail store or businesslocation. Electronic devices may be configured prior to shipping withunique packaging, hardware and software branding, features andfunctionality.

SUMMARY

In an embodiment, a method of providing wireless communication servicesto a mobile phone is disclosed. The method comprises identifying a firstplurality of embedded applications employed by both a first brandedmobile phone model and a second branded mobile phone model, where boththe first branded mobile phone model and the second branded mobile phonemodel are based on the same generic mobile phone. The method furthercomprises identifying a second plurality of embedded applicationsemployed by the first branded mobile phone model and not employed by thesecond branded mobile phone model, instructing a manufacturer of thegeneric mobile phone to install the first plurality of embeddedapplications in a read only memory (ROM) of the generic mobile phone,and instructing the manufacturer of the generic mobile phone to installthe second plurality of embedded applications in the read only memory ofthe generic mobile phone, wherein the functionality of the secondplurality of embedded applications is enabled based on at least onewritable parameter in a random access memory (RAM) of the generic mobilephone. The method further comprises instructing the manufacturer of thegeneric mobile phone to install embedded logic in the read only memoryof the generic mobile phone that reads from a first location in therandom access memory of the generic mobile phone to obtain a referenceto content to be rendered by the embedded logic, activating a firstmobile phone, wherein the mobile phone is the first branded mobile phonemodel, and in response to activating the first mobile phone, writingover-the-air a first reference to content to the first location in therandom access memory of the first mobile phone, wherein the first mobilephone is differentiated in conformance with the first branded mobilephone model.

In an embodiment, a method of providing wireless communication servicesto a mobile phone is disclosed. The method comprises instructing amanufacturer of a generic mobile phone to install a firmware on thegeneric mobile phones, wherein the generic mobile phone is certifiedbased on the firmware and based on an execution platform installed onthe generic mobile phone, certifying a first content for use by theexecution platform, and certifying a second content for use by theexecution platform, The method further comprises activating a firstmobile phone, wherein the first mobile phone is one of the genericmobile phones. In response to activating the first mobile phone,automatically identifying a first service brand associated with thefirst mobile phone, and based on the first service brand, writingover-the-air a reference to the first content to a first memory area ofthe first mobile device. The method further comprises activating asecond mobile phone, wherein the second mobile phone is one of thegeneric mobile phones, and in response to activating the second mobilephone, automatically identifying a second service brand associated withthe second mobile phone, and based on the second service brand, writingover-the-air a reference to the second content to a second memory areaof the second mobile device.

In an embodiment, a service awareness provisioning server is disclosed.The server comprises at least one processor, a memory, and anapplication stored in memory that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, receives a first activation message from a first mobilephone, the first mobile phone being one of a plurality of generic mobilephones. In response to the first activation message, the serveridentifies a first service brand associated with the first mobile phone,and based on the first service brand, writes a reference to a firstcontent to a memory of the first mobile phone over-the-air, wherein thefirst content is one of a first turn-on splash screen associated withthe first service brand, a first turn-on tone associated with the firstservice brand, a first turn-off splash screen associated with the firstservice brand, a first turn-off tone associated with the first servicebrand, a reference to a first voice mail service associated with thefirst service brand, and a universal reference locator (URL) of anon-line store associated with the first service brand. The serverreceives a second activation message from a second mobile phone, thesecond mobile phone being one of a plurality of generic mobile phones,and in response to the second activation message, identifies a secondservice brand associated with the second mobile phone, and based on thesecond service brand, writes a reference to a second content to a memoryof the second mobile phone over-the-air, wherein the second content isone of a second turn-on splash screen associated with the second servicebrand, a second turn-on tone associated with the second service brand, asecond turn-off splash screen associated with the second service brand,a second turn-off tone associated with the second service brand, areference to a second voice mail service associated with the secondservice brand, and a universal reference locator (URL) of an on-linestore associated with the second service brand.

These and other features will be more clearly understood from thefollowing detailed description taken in conjunction with theaccompanying drawings and claims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

For a more complete understanding of the present disclosure, referenceis now made to the following brief description, taken in connection withthe accompanying drawings and detailed description, wherein likereference numerals represent like parts.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a provisioning system according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 2 is an illustration of the levels of device configurationaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a flow chart of a method according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 4 is a flow chart of a method according to an embodiment of thedisclosure.

FIG. 5 is an illustration of a mobile device according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a mobile device according to an embodimentof the disclosure.

FIG. 7 is a block diagram of a software architecture for a mobile deviceaccording to an embodiment of the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a block diagram of a computer system according to anembodiment of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It should be understood at the outset that although illustrativeimplementations of one or more embodiments are illustrated below, thedisclosed systems and methods may be implemented using any number oftechniques, whether currently known or not yet in existence. Thedisclosure should in no way be limited to the illustrativeimplementations, drawings, and techniques illustrated below, but may bemodified within the scope of the appended claims along with their fullscope of equivalents.

A system and method for generic device configurations for portableelectronic devices is described. Unique device configurations for eachmodel, brand, and even color of a portable electronic device lead toseparate stock keeping units (SKUs) for each distinct product that canbe purchased, introducing complexity to inventory management anddistribution. These unique configurations also manifest themselves inthe features and embedded applications that are delivered as part of thefirmware of the portable electronic devices. Each different combinationof features and applications, for example, may entail extensive testingand certification, thereby creating a large overhead cost in addition tothe actual hardware costs of the portable electronic devices. To reducethe need for unique configurations, analysis is performed to identifywhich applications are used across multiple versions of a mobile phonemodel, regardless of branding or customization, and to package theseembedded applications in the firmware delivered with the a genericmobile phone. In some contexts, this firmware may be referred to asgeneric firmware. Any embedded applications that are not used by allversions may be turned on or off in order to be packaged in the genericfirmware. This will allow an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) todeliver an out of the box default configuration with minimal or nobranding. The service provider may then, through an enhancedprovisioning process, add branding and customization as needed at thetime of service activation.

In an embodiment, firmware may be stored in a read only memory (ROM) ofthe portable electronic device such that the firmware is not readilyaltered or over written by general users of the portable electronicdevice. Typically, general users of a portable electronic device may beprevented from readily altering, deleting, and/or downloading firmwareto the portable electronic device to avoid compromising the basicfunction of the portable electronic device. Firmware may be contrastedwith configuration data which in some cases may be readily written into,changed in, or deleted from a memory of the portable electronic deviceby a user, for example by using an interface for configuring the deviceand/or applications. Additionally, firmware may be contrasted withapplications that may be downloaded to, stored on, executed on, anddeleted from the portable electronic device by a user.

Turning now to FIG. 1, a communication system 10 is described. Thesystem 10 comprises a mobile phone 12, a base transceiver station (BTS)14, a network 16, and a service awareness provisioning server 40. Themobile phone 12 may be a mobile phone, a personal digital assistant(PDA), a media player, or other communication enabled portableelectronic device. In an embodiment, the mobile phone 12 may beimplemented as a handset. Details of handsets are discussed furtherhereinafter. The base transceiver station 14 provides a communicationlink to the mobile phone 12 and couples the mobile phone 12 to thenetwork 16. In an embodiment, the base transceiver station 14 provides awireless communication link to the mobile phone 12 according to one ormore of a code division multiple access (CDMA) wireless protocol, aglobal system for mobile communications (GSM) wireless protocol, a longterm evolution (LTE) wireless protocol, a worldwide interoperability formicrowave access (WiMAX) wireless protocol, or another wirelessprotocol. While a single base transceiver station 14 is illustrated inFIG. 1, it is understood that the communication system 10 may compriseany number of base transceiver stations 14 and any number of mobilephones 12. The network 16 may be a public communication network, aprivate communication network, or a combination thereof.

The mobile phone 12 may comprise a radio transceiver 20, a first userinterface 22, and a first memory 24. Alternatively, the mobile phone 12may comprise two or more radio transceivers 20. The first memory 24 maycomprise a first read only memory (ROM) 26, and a first random accessmemory (RAM) 28. The service awareness provisioning server 40 maycomprise a processor 42, a memory 44, and an application 46 stored inthe memory 44. The service awareness provisioning server 40 may alsocomprise a plurality of processors located in a plurality of computers.Computers are discussed in more detail hereinafter.

The application 46, when executed by a processor 42 of the serviceawareness provisioning server 40, may receive a first activation messagefrom a first mobile phone 12, the mobile phone 12 being one of aplurality of generic mobile phones 12. In response to the firstactivation message, the application 46 identifies a first service brandassociated with the first mobile phone 12, and based on the firstservice brand, a reference to a first content is written over-the-air toa first random access memory 28 of the first mobile phone 12. Theapplication 46 may link the first service brand to the first mobilephone 12 by looking up in a data store (not shown) a wirelesscommunication service provisioned for the first mobile phone 12 using aphone number of the first mobile phone 12, an electronic serial number(ESN) of the first mobile phone 12, a mobile subscriber number (MSN) ofthe first mobile phone 12, other identifying information of the firstmobile phone 12, and/or combinations thereof.

The first content identified by the reference may be one or more of afirst turn-on splash screen associated with the first service brand, afirst turn-on tone associated with the first service brand, a firstturn-off splash screen associated with the first service brand, a firstturn-off tone associated with the first service brand, a phone number ofa first voice mail service associated with the first service brand, ashort-code that references the first voice mail service, anotherreference and/or address to the first voice mail service, and auniversal reference locator (URL) of an on-line store associated withthe first service brand. One or more of the referenced content may bestored in the first random access memory 28 of the first mobile phone12. In some contexts, the phone number of a voice mail service may bereferred to as a dial-up number. Alternatively, one or more of thereferenced content may be stored elsewhere and accessible by the firstmobile phone 12 via the base transceiver station 14 and the network 16.In operation, the first mobile phone 12 uses the references to presentcontent. For example, when the first mobile phone 12 performs a power-onboot, the first mobile phone 12 goes to the location in the first randomaccess memory 28 allocated to containing the reference for the turn-onsplash screen, follows the reference to the turn-on splash screencontent, retrieves the content, and presents the content as the turn-onsplash screen.

The application 46 may then receive a second activation message from asecond mobile phone 12, the second mobile phone 12 being one of aplurality of generic mobile phones 12. In response to the secondactivation message, the application 46 identifies a second service brandassociated with the second mobile phone 12, and based on the secondservice brand, a reference to a second content is written over-the-airto a first random access memory 28 of the second mobile phone 12. Thesecond content is one or more of a second turn-on splash screenassociated with the second service brand, a second turn-on toneassociated with the second service brand, a second turn-off splashscreen associated with the second service brand, a second turn-off toneassociated with the second service brand, a phone number of, a shortcode referencing, or other reference to a second voice mail serviceassociated with the second service brand, and a universal referencelocator (URL) of an on-line store associated with the second servicebrand.

Based on a first service brand of the mobile phone 12, in an embodimentthe application 46 may write a parameter to the first random accessmemory 28 of the first mobile phone 12 over-the-air to enable afunctionality of an embedded application installed in the first readonly memory 26 of the mobile phone 12. For example, features specific tothe first service brand of the mobile phone 12, such as the voice mailservice, may be installed in firmware of the generic mobile phone 12received from the manufacturer but disabled. The application 46 mayenable the correct voice mail service upon identifying the first servicebrand during the provisioning process. In an embodiment, the application46 further analyzes not only the first service brand of the mobile phone12, but also the service plan associated to the mobile phone 12, andwrites a reference to a first content based on the associated serviceplan. This may allow a service provider to deliver specific content to auser based on their service plan, for instance, a user with a limiteddata plan may receive content with menu items for video servicesremoved.

The generic mobile phones 12 may be certified by a single certificationprocess, thereby reducing certification costs for the original equipmentmanufacturer. In an embodiment, the generic mobile phone 12 has anAndroid execution platform installed, and the first content and thesecond content are certified for use on the Android execution platform.Because the first content and the second content are certified for theexecution platform, they do not need to be recertified for the specificgeneric mobile phone model. In an embodiment, the generic mobile phones12 are associated with one stock keeping unit number, enabling theservice provider to leverage better economies of scale and simplifiedinventory management. Better economies of scale may be attained, forexample, by buying one million units of the generic mobile phone 12 froman original equipment manufacturer rather than buying one hundredthousand units of each of ten different customized mobile phones fromthe same original equipment manufacturer. Likewise, better economies ofscale may be attained in stocking inventory at retail stores and/or atdistribution centers. For example, if it is customary to keep ten unitsof each different phone model on hand in a retail store and there arefifty different phone models, this equates to an inventory of fivehundred phones. If the weekly turn over of phones is about one hundred,however, it may be possible to stock an inventory of two hundred genericphones and keep up with purchasing demand, but with a considerablyreduced investment in inventory stock. Ordering phones to restoreinventory becomes simpler because sales of fifty different models ofphone do not have to be separately stocked. The same example may readilybe applied to a distribution center, perhaps resulting in an evengreater percentage of inventory reduction than could be realized in thecase of the retail stores.

FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system 10 including a wirelesscommunication link between the mobile phone 12 and the network 16. Itshould be noted that the service provisioning server 40 may also residein a distribution center or warehouse, and that some or all provisioningevents may be completed in the distribution center. This would allowbranding and customization to be accomplished prior to sending aplurality of mobile phones 12 to a retail point of sale or a largeenterprise customer, for example. In some embodiments, branding mayfurther include installing a battery cover that features a surface markassociated with the appropriate brand. It is contemplated that suchbattery covers may be easily and inexpensively removed and replaced torebrand a mobile phone, for example by removing a battery cover having asurface mark associated with a first brand and replacing with anotherbattery cover having a surface mark associated with a second brand. Thesurface mark may comprise a painted mark, an incised mark, a markimpressed into the material of the battery cover, a mark molded into thematerial of the battery cover, a decal or sticker affixed to the batterycover, or other visible mark.

Turning now to FIG. 2, a hierarchy 100 illustrates devices in theconfiguration cycle, displaying how the provisioning process can take ageneric device and transform it into a branded, customized device. Thehierarchy 100 comprises a plurality of generic mobile phones 102,branching off to a plurality of first service brand mobile phones 112and a plurality of second service brand mobile phones 114. The firstservice brand mobile phones 112 branch off into a plurality of firstcustomized mobile phones 122 and a plurality of second customized mobilephones 124. The second service brand mobile phones 114 branch off into aplurality of third customized mobile phones 126 and a plurality offourth customized mobile phones 128. The original equipment manufacturercan deliver a single generic configuration to a service provider,allowing a single certification and a single stock keeping unit. Aservice provider may support a plurality of brands. The service providerhas the flexibility to utilize the provisioning process to update aplurality of generic mobile phones 102 and create a first plurality ofbranded mobile phones 112 and a second plurality of mobile brandedphones 114, wherein the configuration is now unique for each brand.Additionally, within each brand further customization can beaccomplished such that the first plurality of branded mobile phones 112can be updated to create a first plurality of customized mobile phones122 and a second plurality of customized mobile phones 124, and thesecond plurality of branded mobile phones 114 can be updated to create athird plurality of customized mobile phones 126 and a fourth pluralityof customized mobile phones 128. For example, within a brand, theservice provider may have requirements to customize a plurality ofbranded mobile phones 112 with specific applications for a largeenterprise customer, or may want to target a particular customerdemographic with a customized mobile phone model.

In an embodiment, a first branded mobile phone 112 is deactivated,having previously been activated. The first branded mobile phone 112 maybe restored to factory generic mobile phone 102 settings from a firstread only memory of the first branded mobile phone 112. The firstgeneric mobile phone 102 may now be reactivated, and in response toreactivating the first generic mobile phone 102, a third service brandis automatically identified and associated with the first generic mobilephone 102. Based on the third service brand, a reference to a thirdcontent is written to the first memory area of the first generic mobilephone 102 over-the-air. In this manner a service provider can supporttransfer of inventory between brands without firmware reflashing.Current practice has mobile phones being delivered already branded inthe firmware, with no means to make the phones generic or non-branded. Aseparate firmware would need to be loaded on the phones to re-brandthem, making it a difficult and costly process to transfer inventory toanother brand. In an embodiment, the factory generic mobile phone 102settings are stored in the first read only memory of the first brandedmobile phone 112 in compressed format.

In addition to the device configuration methods of customizationdescribed, similar processes may be implemented with regards to thehardware and packaging of a generic mobile phone 102. For example, thehardware branding of the device may be either completely removed, ormoved from the face of the device to the battery cover, relying onsoftware branding to persist the logo onscreen. A service provider wouldbe able to change the hardware branding simply by changing the batterycover, increasing the flexibility and reducing the cost for the serviceprovider to support multiple brands. Similarly, unbranded originalequipment manufacturer generic mobile phones 102 may be inserted intounbranded packaging with a white space for warehouse printing orlabeling upon warehouse fulfillment and branding.

In FIG. 3, a method 200 is described. At block 202 a first plurality ofembedded applications employed by both a first branded mobile phonemodel and a second branded mobile phone model is identified, where boththe first branded mobile phone model and the second branded mobile phonemodel are based on the same generic mobile phone. The same genericmobile phones may have the same firmware installed. The same genericmobile phones may have the same hardware or may have different hardware.For example, in an embodiment a first set of the generic mobile phonesmay comprise a first low cost camera device and a second set of thegeneric mobile phones may comprise a second high cost camera device. Asanother example, in an embodiment, a first set of the generic mobilephones may comprise a second speaker to promote a speaker phoneoperation mode and the second set of generic mobile phones may omit thesecond speaker. At block 204 a second plurality of embedded applicationsemployed by the first branded mobile phone model and not employed by thesecond branded mobile phone model are identified. The first plurality ofembedded applications comprise the common functionality that may beprovided on all models of the mobile phones, while the second pluralityof embedded applications may comprise functionality that is provided toa subset of the generic mobile phones and may be disabled on the genericmobile phone. When branding the mobile phones 12 to the subject modelthat delivers the functionality of the second plurality of embeddedapplications, the subject applications may be enabled by theprovisioning server 40 or other device.

At block 206 the manufacturer of the generic mobile phone 12 isinstructed, for example in a specification document, to install thefirst plurality of embedded applications in a read only memory 26 of thegeneric mobile phone. Any application or feature that is shared acrossall brands or sales channels may be included in the embeddedapplications compiled into the firmware of the generic mobile phone 12as delivered from the device manufacturer. At block 208, themanufacturer of the generic mobile phone is instructed by thespecification to install the second plurality of embedded applicationsin the read only memory 26 of the generic mobile phone 12 wherein thefunctionality of the second plurality of embedded applications isenabled based on at least one writable parameter in a random accessmemory 28 of the generic mobile phone. Any application that is unique toa brand or sales channel may be provided in the firmware installed inthe generic mobile phone 12 but will be disabled in the defaultconfiguration delivered by the device manufacturer. At block 210, themanufacturer of the generic mobile phone 12 is instructed by thespecification to install embedded logic in the read only memory 26 ofthe generic mobile phone 12 that reads from a first location in therandom access memory of the generic mobile phone 12 to obtain areference to content to be rendered by the embedded logic. Themanufacturer installs all embedded applications to the generic mobilephone 12, along with the logic to enable the second plurality ofembedded applications based on an on/off switch stored in random accessmemory 28. For example, the firmware may read from an appropriatelocation in random access memory 28 to determine whether a featureand/or functionality is enabled or disabled.

At block 212, a first mobile phone 12 is activated, where the firstmobile phone 12 is the first branded mobile phone model. At block 214,in response to activating the first mobile phone 12, a first referenceto content is written over-the-air to the first location in the randomaccess memory 28 of the first mobile phone 12, where the first mobilephone 12 is differentiated in conformance with the first branded mobilephone model. As part of the initial over-the-air activation of the firstmobile phone 12, the first service brand is identified and the locationsof the on/off switch for the embedded applications associated with thefirst branded mobile phone model, for example picture mail or a voicemail provider, are written over-the-air to enable the appropriateembedded applications for the first service brand.

In an embodiment, the method 200 may further comprise activating asecond mobile phone 12, where the second mobile phone 12 is the secondbranded mobile phone model. In response to activating the second mobilephone 12, a second reference to content is written over-the-air to thefirst location in the random access memory 28 of the second mobile phone12. The first reference to content and the second reference to contentare different, and the second mobile phone 12 is thereby differentiatedfrom the first mobile phone 12 in conformance with the second brandedmobile phone model. Stated another way, when the second mobile phone 12is used, the firmware may read from the first location in the randomaccess memory 28, follow the reference to content contained at the firstlocation in memory to retrieve a content, and present the content,wherein the presented content is different from the correspondingcontent that would be presented on the first mobile phone 12. Thisdifferentiates the second mobile phone 12 from the first mobile phone12, at least in part, in that the first mobile phone 12 may presentdifferent corresponding content, for example a different splash screenon start up, a different power-on tone, etc. As part of the initialover-the-air activation of the second mobile phone 12, the secondservice brand is identified and the locations of the on/off switch forthe embedded applications associated with the second branded mobilephone model are written over-the-air to enable the appropriate embeddedapplications for the second service brand.

In an embodiment, the method 200 may comprise, in response to activatingthe first mobile phone 12, writing over-the-air to a second location inthe random access memory 28 of the generic mobile phone 12 to enable oneof the second plurality of embedded applications. Writing over-the-airto the second location in random access memory 28 of the generic mobilephone 12 is based at least in part on a first service brand associatedwith a communication service provided to the first mobile phone 12 afteractivating the first mobile phone 12. It is understood that the firstmemory area and the second memory area are at equivalent addresses ineach of the first mobile phone 12 and the second mobile phone 12, andthat the firmware is configured to read from the equivalent address topresent the first content on the first mobile phone 12 when the firmwareis executed on the first mobile phone 12 and to present the secondcontent on the second mobile phone 12 when the firmware is executed onthe second mobile phone 12.

In an embodiment, activating the first mobile phone 12 may also compriseat least one of provisioning an identity of the first mobile phone 12into a mobile switching center (MSC), provisioning the identity of thefirst mobile phone 12 into a home location register (HLR), andprovisioning the identity of the first mobile phone 12 into a visitorlocation register (VLR). The method may further comprise writingover-the-air a preferred roaming list (PRL) to a third location in therandom access memory 28 of the first mobile phone 12, wherein theembedded logic further reads from the third location in the randomaccess memory 28 of the first mobile phone 12 to one of originate amobile phone call and receive a mobile phone call. Content referenced bythe first reference to content may be one of a first service brandturn-on splash page, a first service brand turn-on tone, a first servicebrand turn-off splash page, a first service brand turn-off tone, and afirst service brand logo.

In an embodiment, method 200 may further comprise removing a firstbattery cover from the first mobile phone, wherein an exterior of thefirst battery cover has a first service brand mark associated with thefirst service brand and installing a second battery cover on the firstmobile phone, wherein an exterior of the second battery cover has adifferent service brand mark associated with a different service brand.

Turning now to FIG. 4, a method 300 is described. At block 302, themanufacturer of a generic mobile phone 12 is instructed, for example bya specification, to install a firmware or generic firmware on thegeneric mobile phones where the generic mobile phone 12 is certifiedbased on the generic firmware and based on an execution platforminstalled on the generic mobile phone 12. It is understood that thefirmware installed on each of the plurality of generic mobile phones 12is the same. In an embodiment, the hardware of the generic mobile phones12 is substantially the same, but in another embodiment, there may behardware differences among the generic mobile phones 12 that are loadedwith the same generic firmware. This allows a manufacturer to deliver asingle generic mobile phone model needing only a single certification,that is certification of the generic firmware, reducing the overheadcosts of the device. By way of contrast, under other circumstances, eachunique configuration resulting in a unique firmware and/or unique binarymight need a separate certification. At block 304 a first content iscertified for use by the execution platform. At block 306 a secondcontent is certified for use by the execution platform. Because thefirst and second content are tested and certified against the executionplatform and not the generic firmware, they may be used on other mobilephone models running the same execution platform, and the firmware thatis installed on the generic mobile phone 12 is not changed and does notneed re-certification with each set of unique content.

At block 308, a first mobile phone 12 is activated, where the firstmobile phone 12 is one of the generic mobile phones. At block 310, inresponse to activating the first mobile phone 12, a first service brandassociated with the first mobile phone 12 is automatically identified.At block 312, based on the first service brand, a reference to the firstcontent is written over-the-air to a first memory area of the firstmobile phone 12. In this manner, the content associated with the firstservice brand is enabled. At block 314, a second mobile phone 12 isactivated, where the second mobile phone 12 is one of the generic mobilephones. At block 316, in response to activating the second mobile phone12, a second service brand associated with the second mobile phone 12 isautomatically identified. At block 318, based on the second servicebrand, a reference to the second content is written over-the-air to asecond memory area of the second mobile phone 12. Based on the servicebrand associated with the mobile phone, the service provider is able toupdate the generic mobile phone into a branded mobile phone by enablingthe appropriate applications at activation.

In an embodiment, the generic mobile phone 12 may be certified inaccordance with federal communication commission (FCC) regulations. Inan embodiment, the execution platform may be one of an Android executionplatform, a JAVA virtual machine, a Symbian execution platform, a BREWexecution platform, a WebOS execution platform, a Mobile Explorerplatform, or any other mobile device operating system, whether currentlyknown or not yet in existence. In an embodiment, the first content is acustomization pack that identifies at least one of a first service brandturn-on splash screen reference, a first service brand turn-on tonereference, a first service brand turn-off splash screen, a first servicebrand turn-off tone reference, a first service brand logo reference, afirst service brand voice mail reference, and a first service brandon-line store reference.

FIG. 5 shows a mobile device 400. FIG. 5 depicts the mobile device 400,which is operable for implementing aspects of the present disclosure,but the present disclosure should not be limited to theseimplementations. Though illustrated as a mobile phone, the mobile device400 may take various forms including a wireless handset, a pager, apersonal digital assistant (PDA), a gaming device, an inventory controldevice, a media player, a digital camera, a digital calculator, aportable computer, a tablet computer, a laptop computer, and/or other.Many suitable handsets combine some or all of these functions. In someembodiments of the present disclosure, the mobile device 400 is not ageneral purpose computing device like a portable, laptop or tabletcomputer, but rather is a special-purpose communications device such asa mobile phone, wireless handset, pager, or PDA. The mobile device 400may support specialized activities such as gaming, inventory control,job control, and/or task management functions, and so on.

The mobile device 400 includes a display 402 and a touch-sensitivesurface and/or keys 404 for input by a user. The mobile device 400 maypresent options for the user to select, controls for the user toactuate, and/or cursors or other indicators for the user to direct. Themobile device 400 may further accept data entry from the user, includingnumbers to dial or various parameter values for configuring theoperation of the handset. The mobile device 400 may further execute oneor more software or firmware applications in response to user commands.These applications may configure the mobile device 400 to performvarious customized functions in response to user interaction.Additionally, the mobile device 400 may be programmed and/or configuredover-the-air, for example from a wireless base station, a wirelessaccess point, or a peer mobile device 400.

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of the mobile device 400. While a varietyof known components of handsets 400 are depicted, in an embodiment asubset of the listed components and/or additional components not listedmay be included in the mobile device 400. The mobile device 400 includesa digital signal processor (DSP) 502 and a memory 504. As shown, themobile device 400 may further include an antenna and front end unit 506,a radio frequency (RF) transceiver 508, an analog baseband processingunit 510, a microphone 512, an earpiece speaker 514, a headset port 516,an input/output interface 518, a removable memory card 520, a universalserial bus (USB) port 522, an infrared port 524, a vibrator 526, akeypad 528, a touch screen liquid crystal display (LCD) with a touchsensitive surface 530, a touch screen/LCD controller 532, acharge-coupled device (CCD) camera 534, a camera controller 536, and aglobal positioning system (GPS) sensor 538. In an embodiment, the mobiledevice 400 may include another kind of display that does not provide atouch sensitive screen. In an embodiment, the DSP 502 may communicatedirectly with the memory 504 without passing through the input/outputinterface 518.

The DSP 502 or some other form of controller or central processing unitoperates to control the various components of the mobile device 400 inaccordance with embedded software or firmware stored in memory 504 orstored in memory contained within the DSP 502 itself. In addition to theembedded software or firmware, the DSP 502 may execute otherapplications stored in the memory 504 or made available via informationcarrier media such as portable data storage media like the removablememory card 520 or via wired or wireless network communications. Theapplication software may comprise a compiled set of machine-readableinstructions that configure the DSP 502 to provide the desiredfunctionality, or the application software may be high-level softwareinstructions to be processed by an interpreter or compiler to indirectlyconfigure the DSP 502.

The antenna and front end unit 506 may be provided to convert betweenwireless signals and electrical signals, enabling the mobile device 400to send and receive information from a radio access network (RAN) orsome other available wireless communications network or from a peermobile device 400. In an embodiment, the antenna and front end unit 506may include multiple antennas to support beam forming and/or multipleinput multiple output (MIMO) operations. As is known to those skilled inthe art, MIMO operations may provide spatial diversity which can be usedto overcome difficult channel conditions and/or increase channelthroughput. The antenna and front end unit 506 may include antennatuning and/or impedance matching components, RF power amplifiers, and/orlow noise amplifiers.

The RF transceiver 508 provides frequency shifting, converting receivedRF signals to baseband and converting baseband transmit signals to RF.In some descriptions a radio transceiver or RF transceiver may beunderstood to include other signal processing functionality such asmodulation/demodulation, coding/decoding, interleaving/deinterleaving,spreading/despreading, inverse fast Fourier transforming (IFFT)/fastFourier transforming (FFT), cyclic prefix appending/removal, and othersignal processing functions. For the purposes of clarity, thedescription here separates the description of this signal processingfrom the RF and/or radio stage and conceptually allocates that signalprocessing to the analog baseband processing unit 510 and/or the DSP 502or other central processing unit. In some embodiments, the RFtransceiver 508, portions of the antenna and front end 506, and theanalog baseband processing unit 510 may be combined in one or moreprocessing units and/or application specific integrated circuits(ASICs).

The analog baseband processing unit 510 may provide various analogprocessing of inputs and outputs, for example analog processing ofinputs from the microphone 512 and the headset port 516 and outputs tothe earpiece speaker 514 and the headset port 516. To that end, theanalog baseband processing unit 510 may have ports for connecting to thebuilt-in microphone 512 and the earpiece speaker 514 that enable themobile device 400 to be used as a mobile phone. The analog basebandprocessing unit 510 may further include a port for connecting to aheadset or other hands-free microphone and speaker configuration. Theanalog baseband processing unit 510 may provide digital-to-analogconversion in one signal direction and analog-to-digital conversion inthe opposing signal direction. In some embodiments, at least some of thefunctionality of the analog baseband processing unit 510 may be providedby digital processing components, for example by the DSP 502 or by othercentral processing units.

The DSP 502 may perform modulation/demodulation, coding/decoding,interleaving/deinterleaving, spreading/despreading, inverse fast Fouriertransforming (IFFT)/fast Fourier transforming (FFT), cyclic prefixappending/removal, and other signal processing functions associated withwireless communications. In an embodiment, for example in a codedivision multiple access (CDMA) technology application, for atransmitter function the DSP 502 may perform modulation, coding,interleaving, and spreading, and for a receiver function the DSP 502 mayperform despreading, deinterleaving, decoding, and demodulation. Inanother embodiment, for example in an orthogonal frequency divisionmultiplex access (OFDMA) technology application, for the transmitterfunction the DSP 502 may perform modulation, coding, interleaving,inverse fast Fourier transforming, and cyclic prefix appending, and fora receiver function the DSP 502 may perform cyclic prefix removal, fastFourier transforming, deinterleaving, decoding, and demodulation. Inother wireless technology applications, yet other signal processingfunctions and combinations of signal processing functions may beperformed by the DSP 502.

The DSP 502 may communicate with a wireless network via the analogbaseband processing unit 510. In some embodiments, the communication mayprovide Internet connectivity, enabling a user to gain access to contenton the Internet and to send and receive e-mail or text messages. Theinput/output interface 518 interconnects the DSP 502 and variousmemories and interfaces. The memory 504 and the removable memory card520 may provide software and data to configure the operation of the DSP502. Among the interfaces may be the USB port 522 and the infrared port524. The USB port 522 may enable the mobile device 400 to function as aperipheral device to exchange information with a personal computer orother computer system. The infrared port 524 and other optional portssuch as a Bluetooth interface or an IEEE 802.11 compliant wirelessinterface may enable the mobile device 400 to communicate wirelesslywith other nearby handsets and/or wireless base stations.

The input/output interface 518 may further connect the DSP 502 to thevibrator 526 that, when triggered, causes the mobile device 400 tovibrate. The vibrator 526 may serve as a mechanism for silently alertingthe user to any of various events such as an incoming call, a new textmessage, and an appointment reminder.

The keypad 528 couples to the DSP 502 via the interface 518 to provideone mechanism for the user to make selections, enter information, andotherwise provide input to the mobile device 400. Another inputmechanism may be the touch screen LCD 530, which may also display textand/or graphics to the user. The touch screen LCD controller 532 couplesthe DSP 502 to the touch screen LCD 530.

The CCD camera 534 enables the mobile device 400 to take digitalpictures. The DSP 502 communicates with the CCD camera 534 via thecamera controller 536. The GPS sensor 538 is coupled to the DSP 502 todecode global positioning system signals, thereby enabling the mobiledevice 400 to determine its position. In another embodiment, a cameraoperating according to a technology other than charge coupled devicecameras may be employed. Various other peripherals also may be includedto provide additional functions, e.g., radio and television reception.

FIG. 7 illustrates a software environment 602 that may be implemented bythe DSP 502. The DSP 502 executes operating system software 604 thatprovides a platform from which the rest of the software operates. Theoperating system software 604 may provide a variety of drivers for thehandset hardware with standardized interfaces that are accessible toapplication software. The operating system software 604 may be coupledto and interact with application management services (“AMS”) 606 thattransfer control between applications running on the mobile device 400.Also shown in FIG. 7 are a web browser application 608, a media playerapplication 610, and JAVA applets 612. The web browser application 608configures the mobile device 400 to operate as a web browser, allowing auser to enter information into forms and select links to retrieve andview web pages. The media player application 610 configures the mobiledevice 400 to retrieve and play audio or audiovisual media. The JAVAapplets 612 configure the mobile device 400 to provide games, utilities,and other functionality.

FIG. 8 illustrates a computer system 380 suitable for implementing oneor more embodiments disclosed herein. The computer system 380 includes aprocessor 382 (which may be referred to as a central processor unit orCPU) that is in communication with memory devices including secondarystorage 384, read only memory (ROM) 386, random access memory (RAM) 388,input/output (I/O) devices 390, and network connectivity devices 392.The processor 382 may be implemented as one or more CPU chips.

It is understood that by programming and/or loading executableinstructions onto the computer system 380, at least one of the CPU 382,the RAM 388, and the ROM 386 are changed, transforming the computersystem 380 in part into a particular machine or apparatus having thenovel functionality taught by the present disclosure. It is fundamentalto the electrical engineering and software engineering arts thatfunctionality that can be implemented by loading executable softwareinto a computer can be converted to a hardware implementation by wellknown design rules. Decisions between implementing a concept in softwareversus hardware typically hinge on considerations of stability of thedesign and numbers of units to be produced rather than any issuesinvolved in translating from the software domain to the hardware domain.Generally, a design that is still subject to frequent change may bepreferred to be implemented in software, because re-spinning a hardwareimplementation is more expensive than re-spinning a software design.Generally, a design that is stable that will be produced in large volumemay be preferred to be implemented in hardware, for example in anapplication specific integrated circuit (ASIC), because for largeproduction runs the hardware implementation may be less expensive thanthe software implementation. Often a design may be developed and testedin a software form and later transformed, by well known design rules, toan equivalent hardware implementation in an application specificintegrated circuit that hardwires the instructions of the software. Inthe same manner as a machine controlled by a new ASIC is a particularmachine or apparatus, likewise a computer that has been programmedand/or loaded with executable instructions may be viewed as a particularmachine or apparatus.

The secondary storage 384 is typically comprised of one or more diskdrives or tape drives and is used for non-volatile storage of data andas an over-flow data storage device if RAM 388 is not large enough tohold all working data. Secondary storage 384 may be used to storeprograms which are loaded into RAM 388 when such programs are selectedfor execution. The ROM 386 is used to store instructions and perhapsdata which are read during program execution. ROM 386 is a non-volatilememory device which typically has a small memory capacity relative tothe larger memory capacity of secondary storage 384. The RAM 388 is usedto store volatile data and perhaps to store instructions. Access to bothROM 386 and RAM 388 is typically faster than to secondary storage 384.The secondary storage 384, the RAM 388, and/or the ROM 386 may bereferred to in some contexts as computer readable storage media and/ornon-transitory computer readable media.

I/O devices 390 may include printers, video monitors, liquid crystaldisplays (LCDs), touch screen displays, keyboards, keypads, switches,dials, mice, track balls, voice recognizers, card readers, paper tapereaders, or other well-known input devices.

The network connectivity devices 392 may take the form of modems, modembanks, Ethernet cards, universal serial bus (USB) interface cards,serial interfaces, token ring cards, fiber distributed data interface(FDDI) cards, wireless local area network (WLAN) cards, radiotransceiver cards such as code division multiple access (CDMA), globalsystem for mobile communications (GSM), long-term evolution (LTE),worldwide interoperability for microwave access (WiMAX), and/or otherair interface protocol radio transceiver cards, and other well-knownnetwork devices. These network connectivity devices 392 may enable theprocessor 382 to communicate with the Internet or one or more intranets.With such a network connection, it is contemplated that the processor382 might receive information from the network, or might outputinformation to the network in the course of performing theabove-described method steps. Such information, which is oftenrepresented as a sequence of instructions to be executed using processor382, may be received from and outputted to the network, for example, inthe form of a computer data signal embodied in a carrier wave.

Such information, which may include data or instructions to be executedusing processor 382 for example, may be received from and outputted tothe network, for example, in the form of a computer data baseband signalor signal embodied in a carrier wave. The baseband signal or signalembodied in the carrier wave generated by the network connectivitydevices 392 may propagate in or on the surface of electrical conductors,in coaxial cables, in waveguides, in an optical conduit, for example anoptical fiber, or in the air or free space. The information contained inthe baseband signal or signal embedded in the carrier wave may beordered according to different sequences, as may be desirable for eitherprocessing or generating the information or transmitting or receivingthe information. The baseband signal or signal embedded in the carrierwave, or other types of signals currently used or hereafter developed,may be generated according to several methods well known to one skilledin the art. The baseband signal and/or signal embedded in the carrierwave may be referred to in some contexts as a transitory signal.

The processor 382 executes instructions, codes, computer programs,scripts which it accesses from hard disk, floppy disk, optical disk(these various disk based systems may all be considered secondarystorage 384), ROM 386, RAM 388, or the network connectivity devices 392.While only one processor 382 is shown, multiple processors may bepresent. Thus, while instructions may be discussed as executed by aprocessor, the instructions may be executed simultaneously, serially, orotherwise executed by one or multiple processors. Instructions, codes,computer programs, scripts, and/or data that may be accessed from thesecondary storage 384, for example, hard drives, floppy disks, opticaldisks, and/or other device, the ROM 386, and/or the RAM 388 may bereferred to in some contexts as non-transitory instructions and/ornon-transitory information.

In an embodiment, the computer system 380 may comprise two or morecomputers in communication with each other that collaborate to perform atask. For example, but not by way of limitation, an application may bepartitioned in such a way as to permit concurrent and/or parallelprocessing of the instructions of the application. Alternatively, thedata processed by the application may be partitioned in such a way as topermit concurrent and/or parallel processing of different portions of adata set by the two or more computers. In an embodiment, virtualizationsoftware may be employed by the computer system 380 to provide thefunctionality of a number of servers that is not directly bound to thenumber of computers in the computer system 380. For example,virtualization software may provide twenty virtual servers on fourphysical computers. In an embodiment, the functionality disclosed abovemay be provided by executing the application and/or applications in acloud computing environment. Cloud computing may comprise providingcomputing services via a network connection using dynamically scalablecomputing resources. Cloud computing may be supported, at least in part,by virtualization software. A cloud computing environment may beestablished by an enterprise and/or may be hired on an as-needed basisfrom a third party provider. Some cloud computing environments maycomprise cloud computing resources owned and operated by the enterpriseas well as cloud computing resources hired and/or leased from a thirdparty provider.

In an embodiment, some or all of the functionality disclosed above maybe provided as a computer program product. The computer program productmay comprise one or more computer readable storage medium havingcomputer usable program code embodied therein to implement thefunctionality disclosed above. The computer program product may comprisedata structures, executable instructions, and other computer usableprogram code. The computer program product may be embodied in removablecomputer storage media and/or non-removable computer storage media. Theremovable computer readable storage medium may comprise, withoutlimitation, a paper tape, a magnetic tape, magnetic disk, an opticaldisk, a solid state memory chip, for example analog magnetic tape,compact disk read only memory (CD-ROM) disks, floppy disks, jump drives,digital cards, multimedia cards, and others. The computer programproduct may be suitable for loading, by the computer system 380, atleast portions of the contents of the computer program product to thesecondary storage 384, to the ROM 386, to the RAM 388, and/or to othernon-volatile memory and volatile memory of the computer system 380. Theprocessor 382 may process the executable instructions and/or datastructures in part by directly accessing the computer program product,for example by reading from a CD-ROM disk inserted into a disk driveperipheral of the computer system 380. Alternatively, the processor 382may process the executable instructions and/or data structures byremotely accessing the computer program product, for example bydownloading the executable instructions and/or data structures from aremote server through the network connectivity devices 392. The computerprogram product may comprise instructions that promote the loadingand/or copying of data, data structures, files, and/or executableinstructions to the secondary storage 384, to the ROM 386, to the RAM388, and/or to other non-volatile memory and volatile memory of thecomputer system 380.

In some contexts, a baseband signal and/or a signal embodied in acarrier wave may be referred to as a transitory signal. In somecontexts, the secondary storage 384, the ROM 386, and the RAM 388 may bereferred to as a non-transitory computer readable medium or a computerreadable storage media. A dynamic RAM embodiment of the RAM 388,likewise, may be referred to as a non-transitory computer readablemedium in that while the dynamic RAM receives electrical power and isoperated in accordance with its design, for example during a period oftime during which the computer 380 is turned on and operational, thedynamic RAM stores information that is written to it. Similarly, theprocessor 382 may comprise an internal RAM, an internal ROM, a cachememory, and/or other internal non-transitory storage blocks, sections,or components that may be referred to in some contexts as non-transitorycomputer readable media or computer readable storage media.

While several embodiments have been provided in the present disclosure,it should be understood that the disclosed systems and methods may beembodied in many other specific forms without departing from the spiritor scope of the present disclosure. The present examples are to beconsidered as illustrative and not restrictive, and the intention is notto be limited to the details given herein. For example, the variouselements or components may be combined or integrated in another systemor certain features may be omitted or not implemented.

Also, techniques, systems, subsystems, and methods described andillustrated in the various embodiments as discrete or separate may becombined or integrated with other systems, modules, techniques, ormethods without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.Other items shown or discussed as directly coupled or communicating witheach other may be indirectly coupled or communicating through someinterface, device, or intermediate component, whether electrically,mechanically, or otherwise. Other examples of changes, substitutions,and alterations are ascertainable by one skilled in the art and could bemade without departing from the spirit and scope disclosed herein.

1. A method of providing wireless communication service to a mobilephone, comprising: identifying a first plurality of embeddedapplications employed by both a first branded mobile phone model and asecond branded mobile phone model, where both the first branded mobilephone model and the second branded mobile phone model are based on thesame generic mobile phone; identifying a second plurality of embeddedapplications employed by the first branded mobile phone model and notemployed by the second branded mobile phone model; instructing amanufacturer of the generic mobile phone to install the first pluralityof embedded applications in a read only memory (ROM) of the genericmobile phone; instructing the manufacturer of the generic mobile phoneto install the second plurality of embedded applications in the readonly memory of the generic mobile phone, wherein the functionality ofthe second plurality of embedded applications is enabled based on atleast one writeable parameter in a random access memory (RAM) of thegeneric mobile phone; instructing the manufacturer of the generic mobilephone to install embedded logic in the read only memory of the genericmobile phone that reads from a first location in the random accessmemory of the generic mobile phone to obtain a reference to content tobe rendered by the embedded logic; activating a first mobile phone,wherein the first mobile phone is the first branded mobile phone model;and in response to activating the first mobile phone, writingover-the-air a first reference to content to the first location in therandom access memory of the first mobile phone, wherein the first mobilephone is differentiated in conformance with the first branded mobilephone model.
 2. The method of claim 1, further comprising: activating asecond mobile phone, wherein the second mobile phone is the secondbranded mobile phone model; and in response to activating the secondmobile phone, writing over-the-air a second reference to content to thefirst location in the random access memory of the second mobile phone,wherein the first reference to content and the second reference tocontent are different and wherein the second mobile phone isdifferentiated in conformance with the second branded mobile phonemodel.
 3. The method of claim 1, further comprising, in response toactivating the first mobile phone, writing over-the-air to a secondlocation in the random access memory of the generic mobile phone toenable one of the second plurality of embedded applications.
 4. Themethod of claim 3, wherein writing over-the-air to the second locationin the random access memory of the generic mobile phone is based atleast in part on a first service brand associated with a communicationservice provided to the first mobile phone after activating of the firstmobile phone.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein activating the firstmobile phone comprises at least one of provisioning an identify of thefirst mobile phone into a mobile switching center (MSC), provisioningthe identify of the first mobile phone into a home location register(HLR), and provisioning the identity of the first mobile phone into avisitor location register (VLR).
 6. The method of claim 5, furthercomprising writing over-the-air a preferred roaming list (PRL) to athird location in the random access memory of the first mobile phone,wherein the embedded logic further reads from the third location in therandom access memory of the first mobile phone to one of originate amobile phone call and receive a mobile phone call.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the content referenced by the first reference tocontent is one of a first service brand turn-on splash page, a firstservice brand turn-on tone, a first service brand turn-off splash page,a first service brand turn-off tone, and a first service brand logo. 8.A method of providing wireless communication service to a mobile phone,comprising: instructing a manufacturer of a generic mobile phone toinstall a firmware on the generic mobile phones, wherein the genericmobile phone is certified based on the firmware and based on anexecution platform installed on the generic mobile phone; certifying afirst content for use by the execution platform; certifying a secondcontent for use by the execution platform; activating a first mobilephone, wherein the first mobile phone is one of the generic mobilephones; in response to activating the first mobile phone, automaticallyidentifying a first service brand associated with the first mobilephone; based on the first service brand, writing a reference to thefirst content to a first memory area of the first mobile deviceover-the-air; activating a second mobile phone, wherein the secondmobile phone is one of the generic mobile phones; in response toactivating the second mobile phone, automatically identifying a secondservice brand associated with the second mobile phone; based on thesecond service brand, writing a reference to the second content to asecond memory area of the second mobile device over-the-air.
 9. Themethod of claim 8, wherein the first memory area and the second memoryarea are at equivalent addresses in each of the first and second mobilephone, and wherein the firmware is configured to read from theequivalent address to present the first content on the first mobilephone when the firmware is executed on the first mobile phone and topresent the second content on the second mobile phone when the firmwareis executed on the second mobile phone.
 10. The method of claim 8,wherein the execution platform is one of an Android execution platform,a JAVA virtual machine, a Symbian execution platform, a BREW executionplatform, a WebOS execution platform, and a Mobile Explorer executionplatform.
 11. The method of claim 8, wherein the first content iscustomization pack that identifies at least one of a first service brandturn-on splash screen reference, a first service brand turn-on tonereference, a first service brand turn-off splash screen reference, afirst service brand turn-off tone reference, a first service brand logoreference, a first service brand voice mail reference, and a firstservice brand on-line store reference.
 12. The method of claim 8,further comprising: deactivating the first mobile phone; restoring thefirst mobile phone to factory generic mobile phone settings from a firstread only memory of the first mobile phone; reactivating the firstmobile phone; in response to reactivating the first mobile phone,automatically identifying a third service brand associated with thefirst mobile phone; and based on the third service brand, writing areference to a third content to the first memory area of the firstmobile device over-the-air.
 13. The method of claim 12, furthercomprising: removing a first battery cover from the first mobile phone,wherein an exterior of the first battery cover has a first service brandmark associated with the first service brand; and installing a secondbattery cover on the first mobile phone, wherein an exterior of thesecond battery cover has a second service brand mark associated with thethird service brand.
 14. A service awareness provisioning server,comprising: an at least one processor; a memory; and an applicationstored in the memory that, when executed by the at least one processor,receives a first activation message from a first mobile phone, the firstmobile phone being one of a plurality of generic mobile phones, whereineach of the plurality of generic mobile phones have a common firmwareinstalled, in response to the first activation message, identifies afirst service brand associated with the first mobile phone, based on thefirst service brand, writing a reference to a first content to a memoryof the first mobile phone over-the-air, wherein the first content is oneof a first turn-on splash screen associated with the first servicebrand, a first turn-on tone associated with the first service brand, afirst turn-off splash screen associated with the first service brand, afirst turn-off tone associated with the first service brand, a referenceto a first voice mail service associated with the first service brand,and a universal reference locator (URL) of an on-line store associatedwith the first service brand, receives a second activation message froma second mobile phone, the second mobile phone being one of theplurality of generic mobile phones, in response to the second activationmessage, identifies a second service brand associated with the secondmobile phone, based on the second service brand, writing a reference toa second content to a memory of the second mobile phone over-the-air,wherein the second content is one of a second turn-on splash screenassociated with the second service brand, a second turn-on toneassociated with the second service brand, a second turn-off splashscreen associated with the second service brand, a second turn-off toneassociated with the second service brand, a reference to a second voicemail service associated with the second service brand, and a universalreference locator (URL) of an on-line store associated with the secondservice brand.
 15. The server of claim 14, wherein the server comprisesa plurality of processors located in a plurality of computers.
 16. Theserver of claim 14, wherein the application further, based on the firstservice brand, writes a parameter to the memory of the first mobilephone over-the-air to enable a dormant functionality of a firmwareinstalled on the generic mobile phones.
 17. The server of claim 14,wherein the application further analyzes a service plan associated tothe first mobile phone, and wherein the application writes the referenceto the first content based at least in part on the service planassociated to the first mobile phone.
 18. The server of claim 14,wherein the generic mobile phone has an android execution platforminstalled, and wherein the first content and the second content arecertified for use on the android execution platform.
 19. The server ofclaim 14, wherein the generic mobile phone is certified by a singlecertification process.
 20. The server of claim 14, wherein the genericmobile phones are associated with one stock keeping unit (SKU) number.